by FRANCO PANIZO
The scoring drought is over.
After numerous scoreless weekends, the Americans Abroad killed the near month-long streak as two players found the back of the net this weekend.
Michael Bradley, who scored midweek in the U.S. national team's 2-2 draw vs. Costa Rica, struck in Borussia Moenchengladbach's 2-1 loss to VfL Wolfsburg. Although Bradley's goal came in stoppage time with Wolfsburg leading 2-0, it was still a beauty (video of the goal is after the jump).
Jon-Paul Pittman was the other player to net this weekend, scoring three minutes from time in Wycombe Wanderers' game against Colchester United. Pittman's goal salvaged a 1-1 draw for Wycombe, and was his third of the season.
Here is how the rest of the Americans Abroad fared this weekend:
England
PREMIERSHIP
- Tim Howard started, played 90 minutes, received a yellow card and made three saves in Everton's 1-1 draw vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
- Jozy Altidore and Hull City play Fulham on Monday.
- Clint Dempsey and Fulham play Hull City on Monday.
- Eddie Johnson and Fulham play Hull City on Monday.
- Jonathan Spector dressed but did not play in West Ham's 2-1 loss vs. Stoke Cit on Saturday.
- Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes and made six saves in Aston Villa's 2-1 win vs. Chelsea on Saturday.
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Brad Guzan dressed but did not play in Aston Villa's 2-1 win vs. Chelsea on Saturday.
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Marcus Hahnemann dressed but did not play in Wolverhampton Wanderers' 1-1 draw vs. Everton on Saturday.
COCA COLA CHAMPIONSHIP
- Jay DeMerit did not dress in Watford's 1-0 win vs. Middlesbrough on Saturday. He is recovering from an injury.
- Frank Simek dressed but did not play in Sheffield Wednesday's 2-0 win vs. Coventry City on Saturday.
LEAGUE ONE
- Ian Joyce dressed but did not play in Southend United's 2-1 win vs. Bristol Rovers on Saturday.
- Zak Whitbread did not dress in Millwall's 4-0 win vs. Stockport County on Saturday. He is recovering from a hip injury.
- Mike Grella and Leeds United play Norwich City on Monday.
- Jemal Johnson came off the bench and played 14 minutes in Milton Keynes Dons' 2-0 win vs. Gillingham on Saturday.
- Jon-Paul Pittman came off the bench, played 35 minutes, received a yellow card and scored a GOAL in Wycombe Wanderers' 1-1 draw vs. Colchester United on Saturday.
Scotland
- Maurice Edu did not dress in Rangers' 2-1 win vs. St Johnstone on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- DaMarcus Beasley did not dress in Rangers' 2-1 win vs. St Johnstone on Saturday.
Italy
- Oguchi Onyewu did not dress in AC Milan's 2-1 win vs. AS Roma on Sunday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
Germany
BUNDESLIGA
- Michael Bradley started, played 90 minutes and scored a GOAL in Borussia Moenchengladbach's 2-1 loss vs. VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday. Here is the video (Bradley's goal is the final goal):
- Steve Cherundolo started and played 90 minutes in Hannover 96's 2-1 loss vs. Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
- Sal Zizzo did not dress in Hannover 96's 2-1 loss vs. Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday. He is recovering from a knee injury.
- Jermaine Jones did not dress in Schalke 04's 2-1 win vs. VfB Stuttgart on Saturday. He is recovering from a leg injury.
BUNDESLIGA 2
- Kenny Cooper came off the bench and played 11 minutes in 1860 Munich's 3-1 win vs. MSV Duisburg on Satuday.
- Luis Robles dressed but did not play in Kaiserslautern's 2-1 win vs. Energie Cottbus on Friday.
- Matt Taylor dressed but did not play in FSV Frankfurt's 4-1 loss vs. Fortuna Dusseldorf on Sunday.
- David Yeldell started, played 90 minutes and made four saves in TUS Koblenz's 1-1 draw vs. Ahlen on Sunday.
France
- Carlos Bocanegra did not dress in Rennes' 0-0 draw vs. Lille on Saturday. He was serving a red-card suspension.
Portugal
- Freddy Adu did not play in Belenenses' 3-1 Portuguese Cup win vs. Oriental on Sunday.
- Kamani Hill came off the bench and played a minute in Vitoria de Guimaraes 3-1 Portuguese Cup win vs. Feirense on Sunday.
Denmark
- Benny Feilhaber and AGF Aarhus play Sonderjyske on Monday.
- Jeremiah White and AGF Aarhus play Sonderjyske on Monday.
- Danny Califf did not play in FC Midtjylland's 1-1 draw vs. Brondby on Sunday.
- Michael Parkhurst did not play in FC Nordsjaelland's 2-0 loss vs. Odense BK on Saturday.
- Marcus Tracy did not play in Aalborg's 1-1 draw vs. Randers on Sunday.
Norway
- Troy Perkins started and played 90 minutes in Valerenga's 2-1 win vs. Brann on Sunday.
- Mikkel Diskerud came off the bench and played 30 minutes in Stabaek's 4-0 loss vs. Molde on Saturday.
- Clarence Goodson did not dress in IK Start's 1-0 loss vs. Aalesunds on Sunday.
- Hunter Freeman started and played 90 minutes in IK Start's 1-0 loss vs. Aalesunds on Sunday.
Sweden
- Alejandro Bedoya did not dress in Orebro SK's 3-0 loss vs. Brommapojkarna on Sunday.
Mexico
- Jose Francisco Torres did not dress in Pachuca's 2-0 loss vs. Morelia on Saturday.
- Michael Orozco dressed but did not play in San Luis' 1-0 win vs. UNAM on Saturday.
- Edgar Castillo started, played 90 minutes and received a yellow card in Tigres UANL's 1-1 draw vs. Toluca on Saturday.
- Marco Vidal started and played 90 minutes in Indios de Ciudad Juarez's 2-0 loss vs. Atlante on Saturday.
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What do you think of these performances? Think Bradley is finding his scoring touch again? Is Jon-Paul Pittman deserving of a call-up in January? Surprised more Americans aren't scoring?
Share your thoughts below.
Where are the Guiness Beer guys when you need them …
“Back hell the ball past the goal when you ca score by passing the ball INTO the goal … BRILLIANT!”
Amazing that some consider the lower leagues of England inferior to MLS and the such (mind boggling). Pittman is 22; scoring goals and that alone will get bigger clubs to notice you. The current USA strike force’s quality isn’t growing at the moment but we have some good players like Pittman striving to move up. Direction is a good thing these days.
ps. That Jack McInerney kid is going to be a stud!
What about Matthew Dallman and Ryan Guy?
btw, any info on Ferrari and Zimmerman these days?
loozek – giving Bradley crap is MUCH different then Casey. I agree the Bradley Jr. crap is unjust, but Casey, not so much.
I just saw Pittman’s goal. It was an amazing 60 yard pass from Bloomfield that found Pittman. The pass beat 3 Colchester defenders, Pittman used his pace and slotted it past the keeper.
ives.. I like that the video was right next to the commentary of the player.
Great work, Keept it up..
Total dumbass who tried to backheel it in in the ‘Gladbach game.
brett and jerome….i know you are both are lil bradley haters but do you ever watch the games…against cr lil bradley was all over the field picking up loose balls. do not tell me he had a bad game. 3rd or 4th best cm you must be nuts. as for jerome lil bradley did not have one yellow card in the final 10 qualifiers.
U.S. soccer fans can breathe a sigh of relief that the Mikey haters on this blog (and elsewhere) don’t coach the USNMT. Same can be said for the Conor Casey haters (who briefly became lovers but are back to hating after the Costa Rica game). The fact is, Bob Bradley has forgotten more soccer than you, i and 20 others have ever retained in our lifetimes. That’s why he coaches the team and we post on SBI. Thanks Ives.
@ second city:
Typically players don’t celebrate goals when they are behind with no chance of winning. It has nothing to do with Bradley and everything to do with tact.
The game was over seconds after restart. Let’s not read into that too much.
The injury list is rough..
I like Bradley.. I think he deserved a majority of the playing time he has gotten.. However i’m not convinced the best pairing includes him.. Especially if/when Jones and Edu come back. Hopefully Sr uses the friendlies wisely.
I like any and all fringe players / fringe Americans you give me. Thanks.
Good MLS assessment above. I rate it only slightly lower.
Brett man, everything’s gong to be ok. I admittedly spend way to much time on this website, and, as a result, have seen quite a few of your cynical, misanthropic posts. Remember, dude, its just a game. And maybe consider prozac.
It sucks i missed almost all the action, but im glad Mikey scored and Pittman also, but i also had an awesome day with my niece so i’m not complaining that much, plus i think Bradley’s goal was the best out of all of them
Albeit, it was an extremely short clip after Bradley’s goal:
Did anyone else notice, not a single teammate made a movement towards him to help celebrate, after his goal?
In fact, his teammates actually turn the opposite way. Perhaps this was because of the scoreline?
Even if…something I definitely noticed.
I don’t “dislike” Bradley. In fact, I usually applaud his contributions. Other than his goal last week, I thought he played a bad game. He was ball-watching and let his man slide through to score the second goal for Costa Rica, and his touch with the ball was terrible all night. His desire, though, is unimpeachable — and that produced a goal.
His effort produced the goal for Gladbach, too. It was a nice shot. However, y’all should look at Wolfsburg’s second goal, just before Bradley’s goal. Notice the defender with the shaved head who let the Wolfsburg player get past him and in position to score? Guess who? It’s a good thing Bradley did score, because he owed his team a goal.
What a great play by Bradley. I think Bradley would have been more consistant(meanining more great games rather than back and forth between great and not so good) on the US nat level the last 2 years if Bob did what mikes Club coach did. Bench him for a game after he has a game to forget or two and mike him earn it back and win the spot back through fire like he did for his club team. Its the only way i can think why Braldey on the Nat level continues to make the same silly tackle mistakes…Coach Bradley would do Mike favors on the NAts level if he threatened to bench him a game if he gets another yellow/red card..it would spark another fire under Mikes butt to do even better.
“I guess it’s my bad for assuming we were following “American’s Abroad” who were at least on the periphery of the USMNT picture.”
yep, your bad. no one has ever said that, and if you look over the list, you’ll see several players who don’t even come close.
Ives has stated that he follows players in certain leagues that he has decent access to results for. Lower leagues in England and Germany are easy to come by, so you get to see Matt Taylor and Ian Joyce, for example.
Brett, MLS has a mix of League 2,League 1 type players mixed in with the 3-7 players that are high CCC to low EPL level with maybe 1 or 2 that can play in the top of the EPL (see Donovan and Beckham) you add that all together MLS is about High League 1 to low CCC level. Not bad (actually great so far) for a 13-year old league but nowhere near some of the people continue to think MLS is. Pittman is in the mix if MLS rookies such as Cronin and over-aged MLSers such as Heaps get a call.
Some of these guys, Pittman included aren’t really in the picture yet. However, these guys are still young. Pittman is only 22 and is doing well in League One, he has plenty of time. He also expressed an interest in MLS if it would help improve his chances of getting spotted for the Nats.
well if somebody is playing well that has not received a look most likely will receive a callup; especially considering how extensively Bradley has looked at the pool.
As for the lil’Bradley haters, whatever. It’s been well documented, and frankly its ridiculous. I don’t know why people dislike this kid so much. He’s always gunning for the win.
In addition, he’s one of the smartest players on the field. His best play against Costa Rica wasn’t his goal, but rather it was the play that helped setup the corner. He beats his player on the dribble, and he has a couple of options, shoot, pass out right, dink a cross into the box, or find Landon out wide left which was the hardest pass. He lays it out perfeclty, Landon cuts in crosses and that idiot Sequiera unnecessarily heads it out, etc etc. That play showed where Bradley’s head is, which is always trying to find the best option.
It reminds me of all the hating on Reyna a bit. Reyna was a supremely polished player, yet most americans thought he was a drag on teh offense, blah blah blha. They didn’t realize that Reyna could change the pace of the game in an instant, and was the release valve. Bradley makes the game so much easier for everybody else on the field. He’s always open, he makes the unselfish plays, and on the offensive side of the ball, he runs into open spaces as well as anybody on our team. He knows the game inside and out.
Bradley wont call in any of these guys for the January camp, its gonna be the MLS guys that it always is, so dont get your hopes up
“(SBI-Brett, Pittman was born in Oklahoma and has stated he would like to play for the USA. He’s 22 and scoring goals in League One, which isn’t the EPL but at least he’s showing some signs of promise. Who cares that he’s never trained with the USSF at any level?)”
I guess it’s my bad for assuming we were following “American’s Abroad” who were at least on the periphery of the USMNT picture. If Pittman is included for his contributions in League One (a 3rd tier league), why not include some of the many other loosely associated Americans playing elsewhere? A sizeable number go completely ignored on this blog, compared to, say, Yanks Abroad. That is primarily why I’ve associated this blog with following players abroad who are in the MNT picture.
(SBI-Brett, you’re on here enough, and comment more than enough, so you should know what we do and don’t cover, especially since you’ve commented on Pittman before. We can’t cover every single American playing abroad, but we cover those on the national team radar as well as the fringes of the radar. Pittman is 22, scoring goals in League One and wants to play for the USA. There’s nothing wrong with us tracking him.)
jozy better start tomorrow. he was nothing but a work horse against costa rica
cant wait to watch the game, too bad i have to work and can only catch the first few minutes. enough to see that awkward handshake between clint & jozy though haha
jozy plays tomorrow
SBI, why doesn’t Jozy play? He’s better then Henneger of Hesilink or whatever.
thx SBI! i like these updates.
anyone know why Spector didnt play – i sure would like to see our backline getting as much quality playing time as possible. i like Spector!
(SBI-Spector hasn’t started in a league match in more than a month. he had the left back gig briefly to start the year but has since lost that job.)
Wow did anybody else see that horrible miss for Gladbach? The dude had a wide open goal and went for the backheel circus shot. What an idiot.
I think Boca did not dress because of a one game suspension from a previous red card.
Boca was serving a red card suspension.
What’s the deal with Boca not dressing for Rennes?
Wow that Gladbach player looked like an idiot with that missed back heel shot.
Freddy did not play but Kamani got a minute or so at the end of the game on Portuguese Cup action.
we may be adding to this list after Monday
it’ll be interesting to see if Bob gives some new faces a look in January (Pittman, Bedoya, etc). You figure it’s the last chance for guys on the fringe to stake a claim for a ticket to South Africa.
Ives Pittman has 5 goals so far. 3 in the league and 2 in cup competitions. And Brett, Pittman isn’t a scrub. He is a great player and contributing very well despite getting limited pt. He is Wycombe’s top goal scorer.
anybody know where one can catch fulham-hull tomorrow? I only have FSC
Posted by: knowles | October 18, 2009 at 07:12 PM
ESPN2 3 p.m.
Keep the goals coming Michael.
Nice goal by Mikey
now i hate people who write off adu, but i think he needs to come home
With Gooch and Charlie Davies injured, it really must make the USSF wish they had Rossi and Neven Subotic(who also scored today).
Good to see Bradley back at it.
Freddy’s team plays Benfica in a friendly this week, he stated on his twitter. Here’s hoping he not only gets on the field against his former team, but scores…
And I’m still not easing up on Mikey Bradley either. I still think he’s our 3rd or 4th best CM with the ball at his feet, but his off the ball work makes him seem better.
anybody know where one can catch fulham-hull tomorrow? I only have FSC
Are we really still counting Pittman as an “American Abroad”? Has he even trained with a USSF team at any level? I knew about Bradley scoring, but I got all excited thinking someone else found the net and then I read on to find it’s just some scrub in the lower divisions in England.
(SBI-Brett, Pittman was born in Oklahoma and has stated he would like to play for the USA. He’s 22 and scoring goals in League One, which isn’t the EPL but at least he’s showing some signs of promise. Who cares that he’s never trained with the USSF at any level?)
Just a slight correction: Freddy Adu and Kamani Hill did have games this weekend in the Portuguese Cup. I’m not sure if either played though.
(SBI-Thanks Matt, we got to that.)
so many lil bradley haters out there…learned that at the pub in atl watching the hon vs usa game but ya more proof this kid is the real deal